Valentine's Day in Japan

Today, February 14th, is Valentine's Day.
In Japan, girls and females give confectioneries or other presents to males whom they like(love).
The most common present is chocolate and much chocolate is sold at this time of year.

In addition, Japan has a unique custom.
It's called "Giri-choco".
This custom is that women give chocolate to men who is their classmates and co-workers in schools and companies.
Some give chocolate under joint signature and others give it personally.

For many Japanese boys, the Valentine's Day is one of the most important  events.
They spend a day in a restless mind whether they get chocolate on that day.

Setsubun

Today, February 3rd, there is an event which is called "Setsubun" in Japan.
In this event, Japanese people do "Mamemaki" in their house.
("Mamemaki" means bean-throwing.)

Japanese people had believed that "Mamemaki" rid themselves all unfortunate things.
Therefore they threw beans with saying "Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi".
*Oni wa soto = Demons out
 Fuku wa Uchi = Luck in
After that, they eat beans which is same number as their age.
This custom is performed with wishes their own good health.

In these days, "eho-maki" is also supported by Japanese people.
In this event, we turn to "Eho" and eat "Futomaki"(thickly rolled sushi) in silence.
"Eho" is different every year and this year's "Eho" is north-north west.
Originally this event was peculiar to West Japan, but spread through the all over Japan recently.

e-manga released!

We published e-manga which gives you a chance to learn something about the Japanese language and culture through an original-manga(comic) featuring SAMURAI.

The text contains both Japanese and English.
Each Japanese and English page are placed next to each other with the same illustration.
There are some articles and explanations about Japanese language and culture listed after the story.

If you like SAMURAIs and Japanese culture, please buy this e-manga!
You can buy this e-manga to click on the link of the below image or sidebar's image!!

The SAMURAI Manga links Japanese and English

KAMAKURA

Winter in Japan, people create "Kamakura" with snow.
It's the snow dome which hardened and made snow.

Japanese eat something in there or make an altar.
It's not only a sacred rite, but also means of child's play.
You could see this "KAMAKURA" in the land which snow often.

If you are interested in "KAMAKURA", you could see that in this site.
Although the text of this homepage is written in Japanese, you could see some photographs of "KAMAKURA".